A/N: *DC banging head against wall* Ish, ish, ish. *knocks himself out as SC shakes her head and walks off leaving him there.*
Disclaimer: We don't own Chuck and we don't own these characters.
Sarah walked up to Casey holding two cups of coffee. She handed one to Casey, who had an amused grin on his face. He looked down at her shoes, and then seemed to be looking where she had just walked.
"Something wrong, Casey?" Sarah asked. She did not have it in her today for any type of verbal sparring with either Casey or Chuck. He shook his head, watching his NSA team go over the package, but she felt him eyeing her several times. "Ask."
"How's Chuck?"
She studied him a second, wondering what in the hell he'd seen last night? No, if he had seen something, he would've said something then. "What do you mean?" Casey stood there, waiting. "As far as I know, he's fine." She paused. "I dropped him off, walked him to the door, and left before Ellie started in. Last night was too much for both of us." Had Chuck called Casey? "Why?" She asked as nonchalantly as she knew how. "Did he say something to you?"
"No," Casey replied, sipping his coffee. Both of them stood there, quietly. For Sarah it was a deafening silence. "Anything happen I should know about?"
She spun toward him. "No! Why would you ask that? You have the video. I took him home last night and dropped him off. I gave him a hug because the guy was shaken up." Casey nodded.
"Let me ask you something, Walker. If the near death experience had him shaken up, do you think he would call you?"
Sarah thought for a second. Would he after last night? She sighed. Absolutely he would, because she was his sounding board, the only person that he could talk to about these types of things. A part of her was so happy about that. She sometimes felt guilty about how much this life forced him to rely on her, and deep down she'd like to believe he'd always choose her, but she didn't know that for sure.
"Yes," she said softly.
"Then why in the hell is he at the beach?" Casey asked pulling up the phone tracer. "Why is he at the beach, and has been, by my best guess, since you left him at home last night?" Sarah stood there fighting with herself not to turn red. He had been so quiet. And she'd missed it. She was so wrapped up in her own feelings (Spies don't have feelings) she had missed it. There was no doubt in her mind about what that thank you was for last night. She had chosen to be with him in her final seconds and he recognized it. It was bad enough whatever he felt for her, and she sure as hell wasn't naming what she thought it was, but now he knew she felt things for him...ugh.
"Listen, I know you two haven't been on the same page since this whole 'make love' thing and that sandwich girl showed up," Casey said, pulling her from her thoughts. "Tell me you aren't jealous of Lou."
She looked at him like he was crazy. "Why would I be jealous of her? He even said he can't date her because of this life." Casey was nodding going along with her, and she knew it. She could get out of this. She could. "He's just going through a lot and needs time to process, because that's what he does. He processes."
"Uh-huh. Walker, you do remember that Beckman realizes when the Intersect fritzes or Chuck misses something it's because of his emotional well-being, right?"
SHIT. "Casey, look, you're…" he was staring at her. "I kissed him," she said softly, looking down. "I thought I was going to die and…"
"And you grabbed the nearest pair o' lips to go out with a bang," Casey said, making her look up. The look on his face said he didn't believe what he was saying. "Chuck's misread what has happened and he's having to think about it."
"Yeah...he's misread," Sarah said softly.
"Now that we have the official story out of the way, do you think it's a good idea for the person who's supposed to be protecting him not to be there with him?"
"What if the best protection for him is for me not to be here?" Sarah asked. "What if the best thing is for someone else to protect him, to be his handler?"
"I'm sure he prefers you handle him," Casey said, earning a glare. "But we both know no one will protect him like you do."
One of Casey's men approached him. "All clear, sir."
Casey nodded. "Let's open it up." The man walked away and Casey turned to Sarah. "Whoever shot Yari was here to pick up this package." Sarah gave him a look. "Right, Yari is dead. Someone who didn't want him to talk." They walked toward the device as it began to open. "Looks mean, but it's nonlethal. That timer wasn't a fuse, it was measuring oxygen supply." They both stood there as it opened.
"Oh my God!" Sarah said, both hands covering her mouth.
"Shit, I thought I killed him," Casey groused. He looked at Sarah, and back to Bryce Larkin. "Well, this assignment just got a whole lot more fun."
}o{
She knelt beside him in the sand as he continued looking straight ahead, out towards the water.
"I need to say this, and I need to get it all out, okay?" He saw her nod out of the corner of his eye. "I said some absolutely shitty things yesterday. I always try and think of you and your life and what you have to deal with, but yesterday, once you and Casey said what you did about Lou, I didn't even think. I reacted. I lashed out, because I'm tired of everything in my life going wrong—okay, maybe not everything but a lot of freakin' things. Sarah, you keep saying I'm altruistic but I took advantage of this, us... and that's not fair to you. You're stuck here, and I get it, you told me you want to be here, and I appreciate that. But it's gotta be hard. It's gotta be the hardest thing in the world."
He took a deep breath. "I was cruel yesterday when I said that if you don't like this you can leave. I don't want you to leave...but if you wanted to, I'd understand. You are having to do a difficult job and there are days when I know I make it more difficult. I need to be more understanding of that. I need to step back and quit seeing everything from my point of view and realize how things affect you...and Casey, but mostly you. I'm sorry I've been a childish ass."
She sat there quietly for a second as if she didn't know what to say, but she wouldn't have gotten a chance to say it anyway because Chuck's phone went off. He tried to hide the wince when it did, but he never looked at it. "Do you need to take that?" she asked.
"No," Chuck replied, shaking his head. "No, because I know what it's about and I don't want to deal with it." She was silent and he turned to look at her. The curiosity on her face made him shake his head. "You don't want to know."
"Well, now I really do."
"Your funeral. Here." He thrusted his phone towards her, the messages he'd exchanged with Morgan open. At this point, he didn't care much about Morgan's right to privacy.
She took it and looked down at the screen. "Is...this about...you and me?" she asked. He glanced over at the last message from Morgan that said, Candles in the home theater room, bro! Perfection!
Realizing she'd just gone there with little to no context didn't help Chuck's brain in the slightest. And he forced himself not to overthink it. "No, scroll up. Scroll up! Read it all." He looked away, verging on mortified.
Sarah scrolled back to the first message and took about thirty seconds to read the entire conversation, or so he figured, before she looked up at the ocean. She handed the phone back to him, not looking at him. "Do you want to explain it to me? Because as close as Morgan and I are now, he texts me with actual words."
"Oh, yeah, Morgs has shortened weird words over the years," Chuck began. "The gist of it is he and Anna are dating."
She turned to him, obviously stunned. "Tell me you are as shocked as I am."
"Oh, no," he said, shaking his head. "They've been friends for a while and lately they have gone to the next level with their bickering." Chuck missed the way Sarah's eyes widened. "The tension has been ridiculous lately between them. There was actually a bet going on about how long it would be before they had sex in the home theater room."
"Did they?" she asked.
"Nope," Chuck replied. "They did it in the break room to get back at Harry Tang, even though he's gone now."
"Why would everyone bet on something like that?" Sarah asked. "Was it that obvious?"
"To everyone but them," Chuck replied. "Anna is terrible at expressing her emotions in any functional way so she belittled and physically assaulted Morgan, and, uh, he liked it." Sarah narrowed her eyes dubiously. "Morgan puts off this air of confidence but underneath it, he has a bunch of insecurities and feels like every girl is out of his league...so he totally misread her cues. I mean, I'm just spitballing, but I've known 'em both long enough that I'm almost one hundred percent sure I'm hitting a bullseye."
"Well, maybe Anna feels like she has to wear armor, put up barricades, because that's the only way she can keep herself safe. Because she's had to protect herself her whole life. Nobody else was around to teach her...how to do it in a...functional way." He watched as she diverted her eyes then. And he realized she probably wasn't talking about Anna—Anna who definitely had two parents who'd always been around, who seemed to take care of everything for her ever since Chuck had known her. Which meant Sarah was talking about...someone else.
Wetting his lips slowly, he put his thoughts together as best he could. She looked like she was out of sorts, and he didn't want to further shove her down the rabbit hole. "That makes sense. I definitely don't hold it against...Anna. It's what she knows, ya know? It's just...you pit that against a guy who isn't super great at reading cues…"
"You think Morgan isn't great at reading cues? Maybe that's been the problem for Anna. That he's too good at reading her cues when she maybe didn't…" She swallowed hard. "...mean for him to see them at all. And now she's in…some trouble."
"Candles in the home theater room trouble?" he teased quietly, and a small smile cracked on her face as she shook her head, rolling her eyes at him. He got the response he'd wanted and silently preened a little.
"Morgan is a good guy," she muttered, looking down at her lap as she drew a pattern with her finger in the sand. "He deserves to be happy. He deserves to feel good about himself. To have confidence in who he is, what he has to offer a woman like Anna."
But there were bigger things they needed to consider. He understood what she wasn't saying. So he nodded and cleared his throat. "You know," he chirped, smirking at her. She gave him an unsure look. "That's not even the craziest part of this. I don't know how far you read…" He wiggled his phone at her, feeling an ache in his chest as he spotted the relief in her face, relief that they were done with that...particular subject.
"It gets crazier?" she asked.
"So Anna found out about the date Morgan went on with Lou—and even though it was a phenomenal failure, she insisted on going to her deli to see, and I quote, 'That Sandwich Slut,' end quote."
"Oh, God. Anna, no. That's awful."
"Right, so Anna goes over there, reads Lou the riot act, and I'm afraid we're banned from the best deli in the greater Los Angeles area for life now. All of us."
She laughed, shaking her head. "I'm so sorry, Chuck. I hate that you lost your sandwich."
"Oh, it's still there, it just got a name change. It's now known as the Lying Stalkery Guy Who Fixes Phones or LSGWFP for short." Sarah snorted out laughter. "It's gonna be a hit, I'm sure."
"Okay, so that is crazy," Sarah admitted.
"Oh, that's not the craziest," Chuck replied. He looked at her, his eyes twinkling with laughter. She seemed more at ease now, and he took it as a win. "Morgan wants to bring Anna to Thanksgiving. Actually, I should say... Anna wants Morgan to bring Anna to Thanksgiving."
"Why should that be a problem? Ellie loves having people over. Isn't she always saying, 'the more the merrier' about every get-together?"
"Anna believes Ellie has the hots for Morgs."
"NO!" Sarah said, laughing and falling over backwards in the sand. "No, you're lying!"
He leaned back with his arms braced in the sand behind him. "Nope. Can you say awkward? And you get a front row seat to the whole thing." She was silent and he got the hint pretty clearly. "I can make an excuse…"
"No," she said, and looked him in the eye. "No, I'm not missing Anna and Ellie," she said with a grin. Chuck returned one. "I mean there is no way I'm missing that."
"Yeah," he said softly. "It would be a crime to not watch that amount of awkward tension."
"I think that would almost be impossible to top."
"Oh, no, Sarah, there is nothing that could top that," Chuck replied, the grin growing.
"And poor Ellie isn't going to understand what in the hell is going on."
They chuckled together, but he could see a cloud come over her features as soon as she sobered up. And he decided not to beat around the bush. "What? What is it, Sarah? If you really don't want to go…"
"No, no. It's not that. There's just something...I came out here to tell you. That's...important."
He didn't know what it could be, but he had a feeling it had to do with what happened in front of the bomb, or whatever it was. "Uh, okay. Sure. Whatever you have to tell me. You can tell me anything. I mean, you can talk to me."
"That container wasn't a bomb, Chuck." She took a deep breath. "They found an oxygen gauge, and when they opened it...Bryce was inside and he's alive."
He just stared at her, feeling like the blood in his body had drained out of him, seeping into the sand beneath him. He was chilled to the bone, numb. "Are you serious?" She nodded. He nodded back, his brain going haywire, and he reached down and began to untie his shoes.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to walk into the ocean and not stop until I drown," he said standing.
She grabbed his arm. "No, you can't," she said. He looked down at her. "We are the charter members of the Bryce Larkin Is An Asshole Club and you can't leave me alone at a time like this."
He looked down at her and blew out a breath. "Is this ever not going to be the hardest fucking thing ever?"
She shook her head. And he realized he wasn't sure what he meant by "this", he wondered if she was aware of the ambiguity as well. "But I'm here. And I'm not going anywhere."
"For now," Chuck replied. She looked at him. "We both know they could take you away at any moment, and when they do...you need to know something first."
She swallowed. He was frustrated by the nerves he could see in her. Didn't she know him by now, though?
"You always have a friend here. Always." She nodded, tears in her eyes. They were gone just as fast. She stood, wiping the sand off of her. Chuck put his shoes back on and they headed to the car.
}o{
Chuck stood there looking through the glass at Bryce, splayed out on a hospital bed, hooked into wires, knocked out, but...alive. "I know what I'm supposed to do here." Casey and Sarah both turned to him. "I'm supposed to say, Sarah, you told me Bryce was dead. I read his obituary. We went to his funeral. How is this possible?" He was quiet for a second. "I have an entire top secret government database in my head, so nothing really shocks me anymore. Of course he isn't dead." He licked his lips. "That's not to say I'm not glad he's alive. Do we know what happened to him?"
"We don't know, Chuck. He won't talk to our people," Sarah replied.
Chuck looked at her, stunned. "Not even you?" he asked softly.
"I came to get you once we realized he was alive. I-I really am not in the mood to talk to him right now." Chuck cut Casey a look, wanting him to leave them alone for a second. The look Casey gave him back clearly said "No, numbnuts."
"He hasn't seen either of us because we don't want him to," Casey cleared up. "And let me tell you I know the shot I took was good so I have no idea how the hell he's here right now." Chuck gave Casey a look and cut his eyes at Sarah meaningfully. He just needed a second with her, to see how she was handling this.
"Christ, is this going to be a thing?" Casey whined.
Chuck threw his hands up and huffed, his attempt at subtlety ruined. Sarah slowly turned toward Casey. "Is what going to be a thing?" she asked.
"Casey, get outta the room so we can talk to each other about feelings," Casey groused. "It's exhausting."
"Can you maybe try to have a little empathy?" Chuck asked through his teeth.
"Empathy about what? Her dead ex popped back up alive. She slept with him," he defended, gesturing to the CIA agent standing between them. "The guy who tapped everything with two legs."
Chuck had enough, his nerves already frayed enough as it was. "Casey, being a little sensitive toward Sarah in light of this super awkward situation might do all of us some good."
He felt the tension in Sarah suddenly, and it snapped. He felt the snap acutely. She spun on him and got in his face, her features hard. "It'll be even more awkward when you're trying to get my foot out of your ass if you ever talk about me as if I'm not standing right here next to you, are we clear?"
Chuck gulped and nodded.
"Besides," Casey threw in, grinning. Chuck barely resisted glaring at him. "She's the one who said the part about everything with two legs."
"Oh," Chuck replied as he saw Sarah wince a little. "I'm sorry."
Sarah worked her jaw and pulled back a bit, taking a breath and shaking her head. "No, I am. I'm a little...on edge."
"Jesus Christ," Casey muttered. "He asked for you," he said, moving things right along. "And we need to know what happened."
"We think he'll talk to you," Sarah said softly.
"You want me to talk to Bryce?" Chuck asked her directly. She nodded. "So, to make sure I understand this, you two... You want me to go in there and ask him...what, exactly? Just so we're on the same page. 'Hey, Bryce, why did you send me the Intersect?' Or, or, there's always the good ol' reliable—"
"I don't want you to do any of that," Casey said, cutting him off. "I want you to go in there and crush his nuts is what I want you to do."
Chuck blinked. "That's a little extreme, don't you think?" Chuck turned to Sarah, but she turned away. The look on her face said she agreed with Casey.
"Graham wants you to go in," Sarah said.
Chuck looked from one to the other. "Does he just hate me or something?"
Sarah glanced at Casey. "You are...unpredictable, and…"
"You're Chuck," Casey finished for her. "You have a way of making everyone talk, even if it's just to get you to shut up."
"How exactly do I start that conversation?" Chuck asked honestly, ignoring Casey's barb. "How do I go in there and not, in your words, Casey...crush his nuts after what he did to me?"
Sarah looked him right in the eye. Those eyes were a stormy blue he had always loved when they were flashing like that. Like there was a lightning storm just beyond the horizon. "Just talk to him, okay? Be a friend, you're good at that." She wrapped her fingers around his wrist. "You're not going in alone either, regardless of what Graham said."
He looked over her shoulder at Casey, who would apparently be in the room with him when he talked to Bryce.
"Yeah, me. Wouldn't want to make Bryce angry or jealous," Casey snarked.
Chuck turned toward Casey. "And why would he be?"
Casey shook his head, grabbed Chuck by the shoulder, and marched him to the door. But the NSA agent stopped then and turned to look over his shoulder at Sarah. "I'll protect him," Chuck heard him say. When they got to the door, Casey looked him in the eye. "Remember, he's rogue CIA, a trained assassin... So be careful."
Chuck took a deep breath and started to open the door, when Casey grabbed his shoulder. "If you hit Larkin in the nuts, do it a couple of times just to make sure."
"Are you gonna shoot him?"
"Possibly," Casey replied with a shrug. At least he was honest.
Chuck opened the door and walked in, Casey following. "Who are you?" Bryce asked. His eyes narrowed as he saw Casey. "Hello Casey. Care to try again?" Casey grunted. Bryce looked at Chuck. "Get him out of here."
"No way I'm letting you stay with Bartowski by yourself," Casey said, leaning against a table.
"Hey. Hey, Bryce, buddy. It's me, Chuck."
"I don't believe you," Bryce replied. "What did you do with the real Chuck?"
Chuck turned to Casey. "I'd like to leave now please. He's apparently crazy. I hear dying does that to you."
"Natural born interrogator, huh?" Casey shook his head. Casey turned to Bryce. "I guess I could just shoot you again."
"Wait, Casey, don't shoot him," Chuck said, standing between Casey and Bryce.
"Really, Bartowski? You're protecting this sad sack?"
"Yeah, that sad sack doesn't deserve to die just because he's a jerk," Chuck replied.
"I'm standing...well, restrained right here, you two," Bryce snapped.
"What's wrong, Bryce, are you upset because you're not the center of attention?" Casey asked.
"Chuck," Bryce said, ignoring Casey. "TlhIngan Hol Dajatlh'a'?"
"Oh, come on, really? He's standing right there," Chuck whined.
"Go on, Bartowski, I'd love to know what you two commies are talking about," Casey snarled, the gun still aimed at Bryce.
"Casey, it's…" He looked toward the window. God, less than twelve hours ago he had kissed her and now...now Bryce wanted him to speak Klingon in front of her. She knew he was a nerd, but this big of a nerd…?
"Do it," Bryce insisted. Chuck glared at him.
"HIja'. bIpIvqa'law'," Chuck replied, looking away.
Bryce nodded. "Your Klingon's a bit rusty, Chuck."
Chuck turned slowly toward him, irritation washing over him. "Yeah, I've been kind of busy lately... Ever since I got your e-mail."
"You opened it, didn't you?" Bryce asked.
"Bryce...Shut up." Casey's eyes widened and Bryce looked shocked. "Yeah, I did open that email. And then you know what I did?"
"Bartowski," Casey growled starting to stand.
"No!" he snapped, turning. "I get it, you have me in here for a reason, but what about what the fuck I want? For once! I've dealt with some real shit because of this guy. I've almost died because of this guy. And now that I have the chance to ask him some things, that's what I'm gonna do."
Casey stepped right up to him and looked him in the eye. Chuck swallowed but didn't budge. "Bartowski, you are a complete moron, you know that?"
"I'm well aware of your opinion of me."
"No," Casey said softly. "I don't think you are." Casey nodded and stepped away. He gestured toward Bryce.
"Who are you?" Bryce asked. Chuck could hear the tone in his ex-friend's voice, as if he was wondering what happened to the Chuck he'd known back in Stanford. It pissed him off.
"What? You don't recognize me? The guy who's girlfriend you screwed? The guy who you then sent a program to that you kept him from? Don't you recognize me, Bryce?" Chuck paced back and forth, keeping his hard gaze on the other man.
"What happened to your computer?" Chuck glared at him. Bryce nodded. "So it was destroyed...you're the only one."
"I don't get it, Bryce. Why'd you do it?" Chuck was getting agitated, and began to pace. "Why'd you send me the Intersect? And why did you destroy it afterwards? And how the hell are you still alive?"
"It's complicated," Bryce replied.
"That's my line," Chuck said, earning a snort from Casey. "Who saved you?"
"They did," Bryce replied.
Chuck shook his head. "They saved you?" He rolled his eyes. "Did they? Could you be any more cryptic? Can I get a name, a place, a something?"
"Come here," Bryce said.
Chuck stepped to walk toward him, blocking the shot of Casey. "Don't do that," Casey growled. Bryce grabbed Chuck's tie with his left hand, and broke his right hand free, grabbing and holding a syringe to Chuck's neck. Casey had the gun trained on Bryce.
"I'm sorry, Chuck," Bryce said, staring at Casey. "Untie me!"
Chuck began to untie him as the door burst opened. Bryce, keeping the needle to Chuck's neck turned to see who had joined the party. "Sarah, what are you doing here?" He looked at Chuck. "Oh, so that's why you didn't want to speak Klingon."
"Don't know what you're talking about," Chuck grumbled. Bryce shook his head. "Sarah and Casey don't understand it."
"Looking well, Mrs. Anderson."
"Kiss my ass, Bryce," Sarah said.
For some reason that made Chuck feel better. Much better. Chuck slightly turned to Bryce. "Seems you lost some of your charm with the ladies."
"That's one of the deadliest assassins in the world," Bryce said, locking eyes with her.
Chuck looked right at her. "Could be both," he said softly.
}o{
He was right.
Except for one thing. She wasn't one of the deadliest assassins in the world. She was the deadliest assassin in the world. And she wouldn't pause for a moment to put a bullet in Bryce's forehead if she was given even the slightest shot.
And he had to know that as he dragged Chuck down the hallway, the needle just a millimeter away from piercing the taller man's neck. She didn't know what was in it, if it was actually deadly or not. She wasn't sure if Bryce even knew what was in it.
But they couldn't take any chances.
So as Bryce dragged Chuck around the corner and she followed, spotting reinforcements poised to take the shot themselves, she swung herself out to stand in their way, blocking them from shooting. "Stand down!" she barked at them, pointing her own gun at Bryce. But they all knew her weapon was useless with the way Bryce was using Chuck as a shield.
The asshole knew this was more than just an asset. He was the only Intersect in the world. He knew because he'd put the program into his old college buddy's head himself.
Shit. How could she get Chuck out of this? A small part of her asked if Bryce would really harm Chuck after what he'd done to keep him out of the CIA's clutches back at Stanford. And then a larger part reminded her that this guy was a volatile, extremely dangerous agent who betrayed his country. Maybe.
Shit.
"Don't do this, Bryce," she said, slowly following as Bryce inched backwards down the hallway. "We're all on the same side, here." It felt vacuous and hollow even as she said it. She had no idea what sides there even were in this thing. She didn't know why Bryce had done what he'd done. She didn't know what he meant to do here. She just knew she couldn't let anything happen to Chuck.
"Oh, yeah?" Bryce asked sarcastically, tightening his arm around Chuck's upper chest. "What side is that?"
"I've got a shot," Casey said from where he was poised over her shoulder.
"No, you don't!" Chuck yelled, holding both of his hands out. "Are you crazy?!"
Sarah could see the red spot from Casey's gun slowly make its way up Chuck's tie and over to his shoulder. It bobbled dangerously between Chuck's shoulder and Bryce's hand that held the needle.
"You'll be fine," Casey muttered calmly.
He was a fucking sociopath. "Casey," she hissed over her shoulder, not taking her eyes from Bryce for even a second. He met her gaze, his blue eyes flashing. She couldn't read him and that scared her. It hadn't ever scared her before, when they were partners. Because she'd known then that he couldn't read her, either. Neither of them cared to. They did their jobs. They were good spies. Who really cared what they felt or why or whether or not it showed?
But she was afraid of it now. Because Chuck's fate rested in his hands, and she needed to know what his plan was here, whether or not he cared about Chuck's safety, or if he'd actually hurt him, kill him even. She had no more answers than she'd had before they opened that container to find Bryce alive inside of it. In fact, all she really had was a shit ton more questions. And Chuck was in real trouble here.
"No shooting! No shooting, I'm susceptible to bullets!" Chuck yelled, waving his hands around, making it that much harder for either of them to take any kind of accurate shot at Bryce. Not that she could do it anyway. Chuck was right. He was susceptible to bullets and she would never risk putting one in him.
As Bryce backed Chuck inside of an elevator, Sarah froze. She couldn't let them out of her sight. She didn't know what would happen. She needed to do her job. She needed to do what she'd promised Chuck, herself, she would do. How could she keep him safe if she let Bryce make off with him?
She wracked her brain for something.
Bryce reached around Chuck then and tried the button to close the door. "Access Restricted" a robotic voice announced.
"Give me the access code!" the turncoat ordered.
"If I give it to you, you can let him go. Right? You'll be out of here, scot-free. Give him to me and you'll get the code to work the elevator."
"You think I'm an idiot, Sarah?" Bryce asked.
"No, but I do think y—"
"I'll kill him, Sarah! Give me the fucking code!" he bellowed this time, and she watched the needle get that much closer to Chuck's neck. Her heart was in her throat. She'd been about to say she thought he cared about Chuck...But she wasn't sure at the moment.
"Between you and me, Sarah...I think he means it!" Chuck half-whimpered.
"Give me Chuck!" she barked back.
"The code!"
They could maybe intercept the elevator. That was an option. But she had no way of knowing Bryce wouldn't hurt Chuck if his elevator stopped earlier than he meant for it too. Then again, if he hurt or killed Chuck, they had a clear shot at him once the doors opened. His bargaining chip, his shield, would be gone. "51602!" she burst out, her voice nearly getting caught in her throat. She felt Casey give her a look that said are you fucking stupid or something? But she ignored it, watching Bryce lean over and plug in the code.
As the doors began to slide shut, Chuck met her gaze, terror in his brown eyes. "Sarah!" he pleaded, and then he was gone.
"Call control. Tell them to stop Elevator G9 as soon as possible," she barked over her shoulder. "Now!" She sprinted for the stairs, forcing her fears away and going full CIA agent. Nothing was going to happen to Chuck. She'd murder Bryce herself for this. Casey got his shot. This time she'd get hers, and she wouldn't fucking miss.
}o{
Maybe this was already hell. Because life hadn't already punished him enough, when Bryce killed him, he went straight to hell. And the music here was...elevator-y. He hadn't even met Mark Hamill yet. This was so unfair. He wanted more time, and…
Bryce let go of him suddenly, letting him step away. "You knew I wouldn't do it, right?"
And just like that, white hot rage flooded through him. He spun on the other man, that jolly, smirkish bullshit tone in Bryce Larkin's voice making him almost feel murderous. "NO. No. I. Did. Not. Know. That. How would I know that, Bryce? You sorta had a needle at my neck and literally said you were going to kill me!"
But Bryce didn't seem to be paying attention as he looked around the upper corners of the elevator.
"What are you trying to do?" Chuck demanded to know.
But then the other man lowered his gaze to him, narrowing his eyes. "What's Sarah doing here, Chuck?"
"You sent me the Intersect so the CIA sent their best agent to protect me! Why do you think she's here? Casey's protecting me, too. We're the good guys! But you do not wanna make them mad! Especially not Sarah, okay?"
Bryce smirked. "I'm well-versed in that, pal. But she isn't the one who shot me. He is. I'm not taking any…" Then his eyes slowly drifted down to the access pad on the wall and the smug look on his face left, concern there instead. "We're slowing down. It's stopping early. Shit…"
Chuck rolled his eyes as he knew exactly what was coming. The shorter man grabbed him and yanked him back against him, arm around his upper chest, the needle pressed to his neck again.
But when the doors opened, it wasn't Sarah and Casey standing there. Instead, a man he'd never seen before was waiting there, his hands in his pants pockets. The look on his face was casual enough, but the scar...A scar...oh…oh boy…
The flash went through him fast, images of the murderer standing over a body, wiping blood off of a knife, files connecting him to something called...Fulcrum. He'd never heard of it before.
"Bryce," the newcomer practically hissed. "Who's your friend?" He took a step closer, and Chuck automatically felt like this guy was a lot more dangerous to his well-being than the asshole holding a needle to his neck currently.
"Step back," Bryce warned, and Chuck heard a thread of nerves there. That more than anything freaked him the hell out.
"Okay…" The man stopped, hands still in his pockets. "I wouldn't want you to kill some...random person. I'd feel just terrible," he groused sarcastically.
"Tell your people that I'm gone."
He shook his head and narrowed his eyes a bit. "This is your chance, Bryce. This is me being reasonable." He gave a placating shrug, not even a speck of sincerity in his tone, instead some mockery there, Chuck felt. "Let's go. Come on. Let's be friends again."
"We were never friends."
"Ouch. Now my feelings are hurt."
Who in the hell was this guy and what was Fulcrum? Why did he know Bryce? Did any of it have to do with the Intersect? At least whoever this was didn't know he was the Intersect, at least.
"You're gonna run, aren't you?" the man asked then. Bryce must've nodded because the scarred man smirked, a challenge in his features as he muttered, "Good."
The doors shut again, leaving Chuck and Bryce alone once more. He let go of him again and Chuck turned on his heel. "Who is that?"
There was a long pause before Bryce said, "Nobody." Chuck read the look on his face, and he wasn't a moron, contrary to what Casey always said. That wasn't nobody. It had shaken Bryce to see that guy here.
"What's Fulcrum?" he asked this time.
Bryce turned wide eyes on him. "Where did you hear that?"
Chuck tapped his temple. "The Intersect. I see things or hear things and I-I have these flashes." In spite of how much he hated the man standing in front of him, it felt good to be able to tell someone about the flashes. It felt good to talk about it with someone he knew, even if he still didn't know what in the hell Bryce's plan was.
"I was right," Bryce breathed, stepping closer, awe in his face. "You can remember its intel." He almost looked excited and Chuck wanted to slam his fist into his pretty boy face. "Is it always that fast?"
"What is Fulcrum, Bryce? Who are they and how do they know you?" he asked through gritted teeth. Chuck had a gut feeling he wasn't going to have much more time to get answers. The elevator was going to stop and somebody would be standing on the other side of those doors, and he'd never get any answers from Bryce again, whatever happened.
But suddenly the elevator stalled with a lurch and an alarm bell went off. Bryce sighed. "Sarah. Well, Chuck. Sorry, pal. This is my stop." He clamped his hand onto Chuck's shoulder, a regretful look on his face.
"No, no, no, no. No wait. I have questions. I have millions of questions."
"I know. Hey, listen… This is gonna sting. Just a little, though…"
Chuck frowned in confusion, and then he felt an incredibly painful sensation in his arm. Bryce's blurry face slid up close to his. "Tell Sarah it's hard to say goodbye."
He wanted to tell Bryce to go fuck himself but the darkness came and took him as he crumpled to the ground and lost consciousness altogether.
}o{
"Hurry up!" she snapped as they finally pried the doors to the elevator shaft open, and she leaned in to look up first, then down. The elevator had halted a good five feet below the floor she stood on, and the hatch had been shoved out of the way, allowing her to see down to the carpeted… oh, no. God, no.
"Chuck!" she called. "Chuck, can you hear me? You okay? Chuck!"
He didn't budge. He was on his side and she could see the blood on his shirt sleeve. Bryce had dosed him with whatever the hell was in that needle.
"What?" Casey barked behind her.
"Get the elevator up here," Sarah ordered, gauging that she couldn't jump down safely enough. She had to keep her head. "Now."
Casey leaned in and peeked down as well. "Shit. Come on. You heard her!"
They heard the loud groan of the elevator being brought back to life, the alarm bell stopping, and the elevator slowly slid up the shaft towards them. They pulled back and let the doors slam shut, waiting for the light above the elevator and the ding.
The door swept open and Sarah was inside immediately, shoving Casey out of her way as she dove to her knees next to Chuck. Her hands shook as she grabbed his arms and turned him onto his back. He was terrifyingly limp. "Chuck? Hey. Can you hear me?"
She breathed out a commanding, "Come on, Chuck," as she pat his cheek. With her other hand, she placed two fingers on his neck, immediately feeling that glorious fluttering of his heartbeat there. Biting back a gasp of relief, she said, "He's alive. Hey, Chuck...Come on…"
He finally jumped a little under her touch, his eyelids fluttering open. "H-H-wha?" he mumbled, blinking at her. A weak hand landed on hers then and held on. "Hiii, yooooou…"
This time, Casey moved her out of the way and looked down at Chuck, forcibly pulling his eyelids open with his fingers and peering into them. "He'll be fine." He handed her the needle and she saw most of the whiskey colored liquid was still in the vial. "He's only got a bit of it in his system."
"Uglyyyy!" Chuck was groaning, reaching up to try to push Casey away. Casey just slapped his hand from his face. "Bring back the prettyyyyy…"
"Let's get the idiot up." Casey stood and gestured for a few of their reinforcements to come in and bodily heft Chuck up to his feet. With his arms slung over two of the men's shoulders, he didn't have to use his feet, which was good, since it didn't look like he could anytime soon. "The rest of you, spread out. Still got an AWOL turncoat on the loose."
They hastened away as Chuck was taken to a proper recovery room and laid out on an uncomfortable looking slab with a sheet on it. She was forced to leave him there with a CIA medic, waiting outside in the hallway with Casey.
"So who's gonna brief the bosses?" Casey grunted, crossing his arms.
She let out a huff and shook her head, mimicking his pose. "They were the ones who insisted we comply with Bryce's request. We didn't want Chuck here."
"Yeah," he growled. "And yet, we're gonna be holdin' the bag with this one. You should'a just let me take the shot—"
"Sir." One of Casey's men came up to them and saluted. "He got away."
"'Course he did," the NSA agent said with a nod. He waved the man away. "Should'a let me take that shot."
"And kill Chuck instead?"
"Well, now that piece o' shit is out there doing who knows what. The last time that happened, we got all our secrets jammed into a Buy More loser's head. What's next? He got an Intersect to give the bearded troll too? Jesus."
Sarah shook her head and pushed away from the wall. "I'll talk to Graham. You stay here and make sure nobody gets in that room who isn't authorized."
Casey made a face. "Yeah, I know my job. Thanks."
So now everyone would be in a pissed mood. This was great. Really, really great. She pulled her cell out of her pocket as she walked away from the room where Chuck was, recuperating from a small dose of a rough anesthesia.
She just wished things would stop sucking for a God damn second.
}o{
He was quiet on the drive back to his apartment complex. Too quiet. The guy who had to talk about everything all the time suddenly didn't seem to have anything to say and it was concerning.
He'd finally talked to Bryce for the first time since he sent him that email with the Intersect, then he was used as a human shield and knocked out by him.
It wasn't like there wasn't an array of things to talk about.
She let him be, however. Instead focusing on getting him home in one piece. They'd released Chuck after two hours of monitoring him. Everything seemed all right finally, and he insisted he was okay, albeit the deep frown on his face and the slump of his shoulders. And when they told him Bryce got away, the frown deepened.
Now they sat in her car at the curb outside of his complex. In silence. Again.
She finally interrupted said silence. "Chuck, are you feeling okay?"
"Mhm." He shrugged. "Considering."
She watched as he opened the passenger door and got out, shaking herself a bit and following after him, giving him some space as they strolled through the gate and into the courtyard. "Well, don't worry, Chuck. What Bryce gave you ended up being pretty weak stuff. And he made sure not to give you a full dose, anyway, so it'll be out of your system completely in a few hours. You can just...sleep it off."
He nodded as they strolled up to the fountain. "Thanks," he said, turning to face her head on. She smiled wanly at him, aware that they both knew her reassuring words were just an unnecessary space filler. "Well, I'm feelin' okay, pretty much normal now, so...I can probably handle it from here."
"Good. Okay." She folded her hands together in front of her, not entirely wanting to leave him here alone. She had that image of him on the floor of the elevator through the open hatch, unmoving, imprinted in her brain. It sent a chill through her. "You're sure?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm okay. Uh, but are you and Casey gonna go after Bryce now?"
She couldn't exactly read the look on his face. "No. I mean, he's probably halfway to the other side of the world by now. He's too smart to stick around here. Anyway, it's someone else's job to find him. Our job is here."
"Ah. Right. Keeping me safe." He cleared his throat. "But I mean, technically, Bryce is connected to...all this. In a preeeetty big way." He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.
"Right. Yes. He is, but protecting you is the priority. Bryce is not the priority."
"Oh. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah. Here's the, uh, the thing. If you've got a minute." She frowned as he winced, sticking his hands in his pockets. "In that elevator, something… happened."
"Besides him knocking you out?" she asked, her heart racing as she stepped a little closer. She grabbed his arm and walked him away from one of the places she knew there was a mic. She didn't know why she did it—maybe just a weird impulse—but it didn't make any difference. The mics were positioned so that everything out here could be heard, as long as someone was listening. "What happened, Chuck? Tell me."
"I tried asking him what it was all about but then you guys pulled the emergency brakes on the elevator and he stuck me with the horrifically giant needle."
"What what was all about? Him sending you the Intersect?"
"No. No, I didn't get a chance to ask him about that because we made a stop before you were able to get the elevator shut off, Sarah." She stayed quiet, just eyeing him steadily. "There was some guy standing there when the doors opened. Someone I'd never seen before. Wicked scar on his cheek right here...like this." He hooked his finger from his temple, down over his cheek, and up to the other side of his eye. "I flashed on 'im. I tried to ask Bryce about it, but he...he tried to talk around it, wouldn't answer…"
"You flashed on him? Why was this guy in the Intersect? How'd he get into our base?" she asked, trying to keep her voice down even though she had an increasingly uneasy feeling going through her.
"I dunno!" he responded, shaking his head. "I have no clue. But I know he was nervous."
"The scar guy?"
"No. Bryce was nervous." Sarah looked down, a chill wracking her body. "It freaked me out. Like, the same way I'd be freaked out if someone showed up here right now and I saw you were scared of them. Nobody scares you, Sarah. And I can't imagine it was anyone good if it spooked Bryce Larkin to see him there."
"No, y-you're right. But you said you flashed. Was there...nothing in the flash?"
"I know he's murdered people," he said. "And there was a word. Bryce didn't tell me what it was, but he seemed surprised and concerned when I asked him about it."
"What word?"
"Fulcrum."
Sarah furrowed her brow and shook her head. "Fulcrum? What's Fulcrum?"
"I don't know. That's why I asked Bryce, but he wouldn't tell me. You stopped the elevator. Granted, I have a feeling he was just going to charmingly deflect from answering anyway, because that's his freaking thing," he said in a sarcastically sugary tone, shaking his head and glaring down at the fountain.
"Well, we're getting to the bottom of this. I'm going to bring it to Casey and our superiors. If Bryce has been in contact with this person before, we need to know who he is and what this Fulcrum thing is."
"Yeah. Yeah, maybe-maybe it'll help us find Bryce." She gave him a look and he winced. "Or, um, the people whose job it is to find Bryce. Since that's not...your job." He cleared his throat. "Anyway, I suppose I should… try to shower." He made a face. "Or I mean, shower. Not try to shower. That was...weird...phrasing." He cleared his throat again and shook his head as she bit the inside of her cheek. At least he was back to his usual self.
"That's a good idea. If you need help, you could always call Casey, you know. He's right across the courtyard…"
He made a face at her. "Haaaa." She giggled. "Listen, Sarah, uh...thanks for not trying to shoot him. Bryce, I mean. I know you didn't have a lot of options in that situation. So thanks."
She nodded. "You're welcome."
"Are you okay?"
She froze a bit, slowly lifting her eyes to his. "Um. Yeah. I am."
"No, I mean...I mean, this is pretty wild, Bryce being alive. Considering you and I are pretty much the founding members of the Bryce Larkin Is An Asshole Club, this hasn't been an easy day. For either of us. I'm spooked and a little shaky and confused and angry and...I could go on for days. ...But are you gonna be okay? Your, uh, your history, I mean…"
Sarah nodded quickly, trying to cut him off. "I'm fine, Chuck. At the end of the day, I'm a spy. A professional."
"Sure, but you're also human. So I'm just...checking up on ya. I guess."
She wasn't sure how to handle the fact that he continued to do things that made her insides feel so warm. She wanted to hug him. Especially after the scare he'd given her in the elevator. She had a lot pent up, she realized belatedly. And if she hugged him, it'd be a while before she let go and maybe that wasn't in either of their best interest right now. So instead, she nodded. "Thanks. I appreciate it, Chuck. I'm okay, though."
Before he could say anything else, she heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Ellie coming into the courtyard with a bag of groceries in her arms.
"Hey!" Chuck grinned at his sister. "Hey, sis!"
"Hi," she breathed, flicking her green eyes over at Sarah. "Hey, Sarah! It's good to see you. Feels like it's been a bit."
"Yeah, really." She shrugged, and then accepted the one-armed hug from Ellie. That was the only hug she'd be getting tonight, it seemed, and she was going to make do.
"Are you coming to Thanksgiving?" Ellie asked, and Sarah caught the subtle look the brunette gave her brother. As if she was saying You better've asked her.
Sarah glanced at Chuck and took a deep breath, seeing the slightly apologetic look on his face. She didn't quite get why, she'd already said she was going to go. Maybe the way his sister was asking in that tone that said she'd better be coming to Thanksgiving. "Of course!" she chirped, turning back to beam at Ellie.
"Good! Oh, I'm so glad!" And there was another warm feeling in the spy at the genuine affection in the older woman's features. "Okay, well, I'll see you soon then, huh?" She squeezed Sarah's shoulder and swept past, pushing into the apartment and leaving them alone in the courtyard again.
"Well, get some rest, Chuck."
"Yeah. I will. Thanks."
She turned on her heel and walked out of the courtyard, stopping just out of sight and listening for the sound of his door shutting before she went to her car. She was admittedly shaken up about Chuck's revelation concerning Bryce and this Fulcrum guy. How was he inside of a government facility? How had he found Bryce? Had Bryce contacted him? Did he help get Bryce out of there? And what in the hell was Fulcrum?
A/N: Thanks for reading. Please review!
-SC and DC